Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Susan Sarandon

This past week at the at the Middle East International Film Festival she highlighted the voices of activist women from around the world. She narrates “The Shape of Water,” which is about five women from Brazil, India, Jerusalem and Senegal as they deal with the issues facing women including harassment and economic justice.

“These women represent films which have resulted in a tipping of consciousness and made a difference,” Sarandon said in a panel discussion after the screening. “In the U.S. we don’t have the opportunity to see these films; even English(-language) documentaries are hard to find. Festivals are a wonderful opportunity for people to see documentaries they might not normally see.”

In the panel discussion that followed the screening of “The Shape of Water,” Sarandon said that “these women [in the film] represent films which have resulted in a tipping of consciousness and made a difference." However, checking Sarandon’s words against her actions leads to an unpleasant conclusion: hypocrisy.